Third World Legal Studies Volume 4 Article 7 1-7-1985 Legal Aid in the Future (A Development Strategy for Indonesia) Mulya Lubis Follow this and additional works at: http://scholar.valpo.edu/twls Recommended Citation Lubis, Mulya (1985) "Legal Aid in the Future (A Development Strategy for Indonesia)," Third World Legal Studies: Vol. 4, Article 7. Available at: http://scholar.valpo.edu/twls/vol4/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Valparaiso University Law School at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Third World Legal Studies by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at [email protected]. LEGAL AID IN THE FUTURE (A DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGY FOR INDONESIA) Mulya Lubis* I. Introduction During the last ten years or so, legal aid has grown very rapidly in Indonesia. Indeed, the development of legal aid in Indonesia can be considered the most advanced in Asia.' Among ASEAN countries, the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (Lembaga Bantuan Hukum or LBH) is viewed as a model to be followed. To that end, in 1981, ESCAP (the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) requested the Jakarta LBH to assist in the development of legal aid institutes in Thailand and Malaysia.2 LBH offices, sponsored by the Indonesian LBH Foundation, are frequently visited by various representatives of foreign legal aid organizations who wish to understand the progress of the Legal Aid Institute in Indonesia.' Such international recognition of' the LBH is gratifying. Yet we also wonder whether the legal aid movement has really developed all that well. How far has our legal aid movement progressed? We need to answer this question first. * Chairman, (Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation) Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia. I. In other Asian countries, legal aid activity is a sideline of private lawyers' associations (Bar Associations and Legal Societies), of governments (Attorneys-General or Departments of Justice), and/or of the individual charitable activity of a private advocate. Thus it is not yet organized, as in Indonesia, in a national network. It is this that has brought many foreign lawyers to study and learn from the LBH. For relevant materials, see Jose W. Diokno, Legal Aid and Development, in HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEVELOPMENT (a compilation published by NOVIP, 1980). See also ESCAP, "Social Problems of Low Income Groups: Some Legal Approaches," (report of an ESCAP seminar, Bangkok, 17-23 Feb. 1981); T. Mulya Lubis, Bantuan Hukum di Asean (Legal Aid in ASEAN), 13 Hukum dan Pembanguan, Jan. 1983. 2. To assist in the development of legal aid in the ASEAN countries, the LBH was asked to do two things: I) to hold a regional seminar on legal aid, which was planned for Jakarta but did not go on for lack of government permission; and 2) to hold courses on legal aid in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang (1982). 3. Legal aid workers from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand, among others, have visited the LBH. Several among them remained at the LBH for some time. THIRD WORLD LEGAL STUDIES-1985 From available data it appears that Indonesia now has a great many legal aid organizations, 4 over a hundred according to some.5 But of these more than one hundred organizations, a considerable number are not fully legal aid institutes; they mix free legal aid for the poor with compensated legal services for the well-off. The perception of legal aid here is still one of a "professional charity." What is worse, this "profe- ssional charity" is used deceptively by some legal aid organizations, in order to make profits. "Legal aid" has been manipulated irresponsibly by various legal aid adventurers. Legal aid has also begun to take on political overtones. A good number of legal aid organizations are of a second type: organizations attached to the banners of political forces. 6 Of course, every organization, political or not, has the right to establish a legal aid institute. But it has become clear that a legal aid institute sponsored by a political force is less likely to be autonomous and free. This may be only a worry, but the cause for worry is increasing. We have recently seen the legal aid institutes connected with Golkar (Golongan Karya, a ruling party) unite over the unified organization of advocates that, word has it, will take control of all legal aid institutes in Indonesia. 7 Our concern is that legal aid institutes cannot function soundly if they are attributes of a political force or subsidiary organizations of a political party, as was the case with many organizations during the Soekarno period. A third type of legal aid institute, of which there are quite a few examples, consists of those attached to public and private law faculties. They are part of the program to develop legal education and, at the same time, a manifestation of the responsibility for social service contained in the Tri Dharma (the Three Responsibilities) of higher education.8 Legal aid is usually subordinate to the primary responsibility of a law faculty: education. Moreover, personnel and funds are very limited. Not infre- 4. One gets the impression that, in some circles, the formation of legal aid institutes became all the fashion, so that they appeared here and there like mushrooms. 5. This data comes from the research of the PPBHI-LKUI (Indonesian Legal Aid Support Program-University of Indonesia Criminological Institute). 6. An example is the establishment of the LPPH (Institute for Legal Services), a kind of LBH, by the Golongan Karya (regime organization). This LPPH has opened offices in nearly all the provinces of Indonesia. The FBSI national labor union, the HKTI, Armed Forces Pensioners, and so on have also established legal aid institutes. 7. The writer has drawn this conclusion after going through discussions of the "single basket" (one organization for all advocates) in the mass media, and also in his capacity as a member of the Team to Formulate the Wadah Tunggal. 8. See Hermien Hadiati Koeswadji et al, PENDIDIKAN KLIuts HUKUM (Legal Clinic Education) I, I1, Ill, Airlangga University, Law Faculty, 1976. LEGAL AID IN INDONESIA quently, these legal aid organizations are no more than signboards. If such organizations do operate, the problem they face is this: to what extent do they have freedom in their work? Naturally, a legal aid institute in a private law faculty does not experience this problem, but governmental faculties belong to the bureaucracy, and will thus find it very difficult to work freely. A fourth type of legal aid institute is that established by the Indonesian Advocates Association (PERADIN) in 1971. It now operates under the aegis of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI). 9 There are now twenty-two such offices in all of Indonesia, and a branch will soon be opened in Irian Jaya. These LBH's are managed more profes- sionally. Although most members of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation belong to PERADIN, the foundation is autonomous and free nevertheless. In our survey, it is these LBH's, incorporated in the YLBHI, which can be classified as working solely on legal aid, and having great dynamism in their programs. It is these LBH's that have become the model for all legal aid institutes in Asia. In this connection, perhaps it is worthwhile to clarify the unique character of these institutes under the YLBHI. I!. The Legal Aid Movement Of all the legal aid organizations mentioned above, only those in the YLBHI possess a national organization. The number of those seeking justice who have come to these LBH's is also very large, more than 100,000; 30,000 have gone to court. 0 But this does not tell the whole story: through programs of education, information, and extending legal consciousness, the LBH's have been very active in going from village to village. Indeed, in the city of Labuhan Batu, North Sumatra, the LBH once held a human rights month. Thus we can see how many people have been reached by the LBH program. All of this has been possible because the LBH perception of legal aid has not been narrowly defined in a traditionally passive sense. Legal aid must be capable of actively reaching out to those who seek justice but 9. Adnan Buyung Nasution, BANTUAN HuXUM Di INDONESIA (Legal Aid in Indonesia) (Jakarta, LP3ES, 1981). See also, LANGKAH TELAH DIAYUNKAN: SEPULUH TAHUN LEMBAGA BANTUAN HUKUM (LBH JAKARTA, 1981). 10. The figure of 30,000 cases is a rough calculation. In the book LANGKAH TELAH DIAYUNKAN, it appears that the LBH Jakarta has handled about 2,000 cases per year. Over thirteen years, the number should thus be about 26,000. The additional 4,000 cases are from branches outside of Jakarta which have been in existence for only two years. THIRD WORLD LEGAL STUDIES-1985 have not the wherewithal, a legal aid pushing wherever possible towards the remaking of an unjust social structure into one that is more just. This legal aid, fundamentally, seeks to bring all social, economic, legal, and cultural resources to people hitherto unable to grasp these resources." This extensive view of legal aid must be carried out by involving as many "social" workers as possible from various disciplines, especially persons who work directly among the village strata. The work of legal aid must at length encourage the people to become conscious of rights and responsibilities. To this end, the people must also unite to defend the rights they already have, and to fight for new ones.' 2 In this legal aid work, we very often face a dilemma: in several respects, law does not support the process of changing the social structure, but rather serves to preserve the status quo.